Selected as an astronaut candidate by
NASA in May 1980, Richards became an astronaut in August 1981. He served as ascent CAPCOM for
STS-51F, passing up the "Abort ATO" call when ''Challenger's'' centre engine went down. Richards flew on four missions:
STS-28 (August 8–13, 1989),
STS-41 (October 6–10, 1990),
STS-50 (June 25 – July 9, 1992), and
STS-64 (September 9–20, 1994)--and logged a total of 33 days, 21 hours, 32 minutes, 15 seconds in space. In April 1995, Richards left the
Astronaut Office, and was assigned to the Space Shuttle Program Office at the
Johnson Space Center. He was designated as the Mission Director/Manager for the second
Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Space Shuttle Mission (
STS-82), and Mission Manager for the second Tethered Satellite System Space Shuttle mission (
STS-75).
Spaceflight experience On his first space flight, Richards was pilot on the crew of
STS-28 aboard the
Space Shuttle Columbia, which launched from
Kennedy Space Center,
Florida, on August 8, 1989. The mission carried
Department of Defense payloads and a number of secondary payloads. After 80 orbits of the Earth, this five-day mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at
Edwards Air Force Base,
California, on August 13, 1989. Mission duration was 121 hours 9 seconds. Slightly more than one year later, Richards commanded the crew of
STS-41. The five-man crew launched aboard the
Space Shuttle Discovery on October 6 from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and landed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on October 10, 1990. During 66 orbits of the Earth, the STS-41 crew successfully deployed the
Ulysses spacecraft, starting this interplanetary probe on its four-year journey, via
Jupiter, to investigate the polar regions of the
Sun. In June 1992, Richards commanded the crew of
STS-50 aboard the Space Shuttle
Columbia. STS-50 was the first flight of the
United States Microgravity Laboratory and the first extended duration Orbiter flight. Over a two-week period, the STS-50 flight crew conducted a wide variety of experiments relating to materials processing and fluid physics in a microgravity environment. At that time this was the longest Space Shuttle flight in history. In September 1994, Richards commanded the
STS-64 crew aboard the Space Shuttle
Discovery. Mission highlights included: the first use of a space based laser for environmental research; deployment and retrieval of a spacecraft in support of
solar wind and
corona studies; robotic processing of semiconductors; maneuvered the
robotic arm in proximity to over 100 Shuttle reaction control system jet firings to measure forces imparted to a plume detection instrument in support of future Space Station/Shuttle rendezvous flights; first untethered spacewalk in 10 years to test a self-rescue jetpack. Mission duration was 10 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes. == Post-NASA career ==